


Step Lightly

by misura



Category: Primeval
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: smallfandomfest, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-20
Updated: 2010-06-20
Packaged: 2017-10-25 22:44:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/275655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"You want me to bring him back by </i>seducing<i> him?"</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Step Lightly

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: _Becker/Connor, Becker never thought Connor would be the one who turned against ARC or that he would be the one who has to chase after him_

Cutter takes the whole thing personally, and maybe, Becker thinks, he's right. It doesn't take a scientist to spot a certain pattern, to see the similarities between Stephen Hart and Connor Temple - aside from the fact that they've both been led astray by Helen Cutter.

"She'll have offered him technology - knowledge," Cutter says decidedly.

"Classic." Not that it's in any way useful; it's not like Becker can come up with a better offer or some such thing - _'so she offered you twenty-second century technology? well, I can get you one century beyond that'_.

"Yes." Cutter looks unhappy, then offers: "He's not a bad person, you know, Connor is."

"I'll keep that in mind," Becker promises, his tone drier than he'd intended.

 

"Well, _of course_ she got to him by offering him future technology," Lester says in a tone that's almost dismissive, as if Connor's motivation couldn't be any less important. "Not like she'd _sleep_ with him, is it?"

Becker isn't sure if Lester means that as a slight on Connor's part, or as ascribing at least _some_ morals to Helen. She slept with Stephen, after all - admittedly a long time ago, but even so.

"Yes, sir." Military discipline is a wonderful thing. Becker can think whatever he wants to, and still stick to answering any and all questions with those two words.

"Happily, that shouldn't be a problem for you."

Of course, _asking_ questions occasionally asks for a slightly more expanded vocabulary. "Sir?"

Lester gives him a look that reminds Becker of Danny, when he's referring to Becker as a 'soldier boy', lacking in imagination what he makes up for in blind obedience. Unlike Danny though, Lester technically has the right to give Becker that kind of look - or any other kind of look.

"Helen got to him by appealing to his _mind_. You're not an idiot, of course - " and Becker supposes he should feel flattered at that 'of course', except that Lester probably intends it as a reflection on his own abilities as the head of the ARC ( _of course_ Lester would never hire an idiot) " - but, well, you're hardly likely to beat her at her own game there. Temple's a healthy young man - well, reasonably healthy. I don't need to spell this out for you, do I?"

"You want me to bring him back by _seducing_ him?"

Lester looks pained for a few seconds, then goes back to looking impassive. "Your orders are to bring him back by any means necessary. I don't care how you do it - in fact, I won't even _ask_. Just. Get it done. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes, sir." Becker didn't think people really got these kinds of missions. On TV, maybe, or in books, but not in real life. "I will do my best." More than he needs to say, really, that. "Thank you."

Lester's expression turns rather peculiar. "Just keep him from getting himself killed, will you?"

 

Becker's not sure if it's luck that has kept Connor in the present time, or if it indicates a certain lack of trust on Helen's part for her new ally. All he knows is that unlike Helen, Connor doesn't seem to be doing a lot of anomaly-hopping. He's moved out of Lester's flat, leaving only a pair of socks and his toothbrush behind, and moves into a place that Becker suspects may have been Helen's safehouse, once. Becker dumps the socks into a trashcan and takes the toothbrush along, wrapped in a plastic bag, and then he draws up a plan of action.

It's a simple plan, but that simply means there's less chance of anything going wrong.

He rings the doorbell - Connor opens the door. (Becker wasn't entirely sure about that part actually happening, really; he's gotten a spare key from the building's owner and had been rather expecting to use it, but never mind; perhaps Connor's less a traitor and more a victim of circumstances, eager for someone to come and rescue him.)

Connor stares. Becker puts a friendly smile on his face, the one that _doesn't_ say: _'you are in so much trouble now'_. Connor blanches. Becker stops smiling.

"Er," Connor says.

"Forgot your toothbrush," Becker tells him, holding up the object in question.

"Oh," Connor says.

"Figured you'd want it back."

"Ah."

"Have a nice day."

"Um."

It all goes rather well, really - Becker's cautiously optimistic when he walks away, aware that Connor's still standing in the door opening, staring and very, very confused.

 

For every flesh-eating monster that comes through an anomaly, there seems to be one tenth of a cute critter that doesn't hurt anyone. Becker's not sure about what this says about the world in general, but when Abby and Sarah are chasing what look like slightly oversized hamsters around, he knows Connor's going to show up. Abby's told him Sid and Nancy have gotten settled in at her apartment again quite nicely, and it doesn't seem like Connor to try and kidnap his ex-almost girlfriend's pets, so if Connor wants some semi-intelligent company, he's going to have to catch something new.

A more ordinary person might simply visit a pet store or the pound, but Becker figures that once you've had a prehistoric pet, it kind of ruins the everyday charms of cats and dogs and ordinary hamsters for you, so ... prehistoric hamsters it will be.

Unfortunately for Connor, Abby and Sarah are really quite good at rounding them up and getting them to run back home. Plus, Becker imagines Connor won't actually go so far as to keep a creature from returning to its proper time simply because he's lonely.

"Becker." His extra assignment is not exactly a secret. Cutter's unhappy about it, but Abby and Sarah seem to think Becker's better than some complete stranger. "I think I spotted Connor near the maze."

Abby looks first at Sarah, then at Becker's gun. Becker doesn't doubt that, orders or not, if Abby were to spot Connor, she'd talk to him herself. He does have some doubt as to whether or not Connor would make it out of that conversation in one piece, but that's neither here nor there.

"Thanks - I'll check it out."

Abby frowns, but for a moment, Becker thinks she's going to let it go. "Becker. You don't need a gun, do you? I mean, it's just Connor."

"He might not be alone," Becker replies.

 

He is, of course. Perhaps Helen has grown bored with him; perhaps it was her intention all along to not really do anything with Connor except use him to hurt Cutter, to prove to her husband nobody he cares about can truly be trusted.

Becker wonders what Cutter ever did to her, to have earned that kind of punishment. He wonders if Cutter still loves her, if she still defines her feelings for Cutter as such.

"Seems like you've got everything under control over there," Connor says.

"Yes." It occurs to Becker that perhaps Connor would have prefered otherwise. "Could have used you when one of them got stuck in a rosebush though."

Connor winces. "Ouch."

"For us more than for it," Becker says dryly.

Connor gives him a brief once over before looking away again, like it embarrasses him to be looking at Becker. It might almost be insulting; surely Becker's not _that_ unpleasant to look at?

"I - " Connor starts. Becker remains silent, patient. "I'm sorry, all right?"

"You had your reasons for leaving, I'm sure," Becker says. He doesn't add that maybe by now Connor has his reasons for wanting to come back, too.

"Aren't you going to shoot me or something?" Connor sounds like he almost looks forwards to that.

"Naw," Becker says.

Connor looks almost annoyed at that reply. "Why not?"

Becker shrugs and walks away. Abby gives him a look as he gets there, just in time to see the last of the creatures pass through the anomaly. The absence of Connor's dead body seems to reassure her though. Becker nods at her, then at Sarah, and goes back to doing his job.

 

The thing is that yes, he could have shot Connor. There's enough tranquilizer to knock out a herd of dinosaurs; there's plenty to knock out one puny human. Becker could have had Connor locked in an improvised detention cell over at the ARC by now.

Any idiot could have done that, really - and Lester knows it.

What Lester wants isn't just Connor back at the ARC in one piece; what Lester wants is Connor back at the ARC in one piece, because back at the ARC is where he _wants_ to be. And for some reason, he thinks Becker can get him that.

 

Lester doesn't ask, as he's promised. Cutter does, looking worried and frustrated enough for Becker to try and reassure him. He doesn't even need to lie much; unless Becker's completely misread him, Connor seems ready enough to rejoin the team.

He just doesn't want to rejoin the team as someone who's screwed up.

Becker can live with that, really - it's fine with him if Connor wants to do something useful. The anomaly detector is still up and running, and they don't need Connor for its day-to-day operation, and given that Helen seems to be out of the picture for the moment ... well.

Patience is a virtue, as they say.

 

When someone rings Becker's doorbell at six in the morning, he doesn't expect it to be Connor. In fact, he doesn't expect it to be anyone, really; he's got a phone for emergencies - and nothing less than an emergency ought to be requiring his attention at this hour.

"Er," Connor says, possibly because Becker looks less than overjoyed at having been woken up.

Becker takes a deep breath and tries not to feel too naked without his uniform or his gun or, well, anything at all that makes him 'Captain Becker'. He feels vulnerable like this, especially since Connor is fully dressed and looks to be wide awake, aside from the whole 'er' thing.

"Connor," he says.

"Yes, it's me." Connor attempts a chuckle. "Um. Did I wake you?"

"No, I'm always dressed like this when I'm out of uniform."

Connor nods. Becker doesn't want to think about what that means. "Nice ducks."

"Did you want something?" It's a little rude, perhaps, but Becker doesn't like the kind of surprises that show up on his doorstep at six in the morning, especially not when they're more dressed than he is.

"I can come back later," Connor says. "I mean, if you're busy right now."

Becker wonders how to put this in simple terms. "I was sleeping."

"Maybe we could meet for lunch somewhere?" Connor proposes. "Your treat? I'm afraid I'm a little broke, so ... " Connor's stomach rumbles, and Connor flushes. "Well."

Sometimes, the only tactically sound thing to do is to surrender. "Come in and I'll make you some breakfast," Becker says.

With luck, he figures he can bribe Connor to never mention the ducks ever again.

 

"I can't imagine where he could possibly have gotten your address." Lester looks smug.

Surprisingly, Cutter's the one to jump at Connor's offering, rather than at Connor himself. "He actually found a way to _seal_ anomalies?"

"He says he's come up with something that should do that." Becker shrugs, not giving any opinion as to whether or not Connor can actually make good on his promise.

"It will probably blow something up the first few times he tries it," Lester says, looking pensive. "Still, if we take proper precautions, it would certainly be helpful."

Cutter looks troubled. "What about Helen?"

"No sign of her so far," Becker reports. He's not sure if that's a good thing or not.

"And where is he now?" Cutter, again.

"At my place," Becker says, trying to sound casual about it. "For the time being, that seemed safest."

Cutter's expression is dubious, but Lester is nodding. "I agree." He's probably thinking he'd rather have Connor stay at Becker's place than to get him back at his own flat.

Becker can't say he feels any differently on the matter.

 

"You know, you're being awfully nice about all this," Connor tells him over dinner. (Becker's cooked, because he's actually good at it, and Connor doesn't know yet that he's going to do the dishes in exchange for not having cooked.) "Seriously."

Becker shrugs. "I have my reasons."

Connor freezes, his spoon halfway in between his plate and his mouth. "You do?"

"I'm trying to seduce you," Becker explains.

Connor waits a good five seconds before he raises his spoon to his lips. "That's not funny."

"No," Becker agrees.

The expression on Connor's face is, rather, but there seems little point to mentioning that.

"You could probably move back in with Abby, if you wanted to," Becker offers. Abby hasn't actually said this in so many words, but Becker is reasonably sure it's true, and anyway, Connor's not going anywhere. Becker'd almost bet his life on that.

"I do miss Rex," Connor admits. "And Sid and Nancy."

Becker nods pleasantly, non-committally. "We could have sex," he says blandly.

Connor chokes. Becker hands him a napkin.

Not tonight, clearly.

 

" - and then he said we could have sex," Connor says to Abby, who looks intrigued, and Sarah, who looks uncertain as to the manner in which she should take this story.

"So, did you?"

Becker's reasonably sure none of them have noticed him yet.

"Of course not!" Connor looks horrified at the thought. Becker thinks his feelings might be a little hurt. "What kind of guy do you think I am?"

"Well, you're living with him, and you're gay, and you like him, and he likes you." Abby shrugs.

"When did I ever say I was gay?"

Abby and Sarah exchange a look. "It seemed rather obvious," Sarah says. "It _is_ fairly obvious you are attracted to Becker." This is news to Becker, actually. "And clearly, he is attracted to you as well." As is this, given that Becker maintains a professional distance between Connor and him at work.

"You look cute together," Abby says.

"Do not," Connor protests. "Come on, Abby! Me and Becker - _cute_?"

"Well, you're cute, and he's - well," Sarah looks pensive.

"Hot," Abby says determinedly.

Connor mutters something, then turns around and spots Becker.

 

"Abby thinks you're hot." Connor sounds terribly put-upon.

"She also thinks you're cute." Becker can agree with her there.

"Everybody just thinks I'm cute. Why can't I be hot, too?"

It's too easy, really. "I think you can be pretty hot, too."

Connor gives him a deeply distrustful look. "You're just saying that, aren't you?"

"Pretty much," Becker admits. It's not entirely true. The mental image of Connor slowly getting out his clothes is pretty hot - the idea of getting all that restless energy that is Connor in bed (or against a wall or in the shower; Becker's imagination isn't that picky when it comes to locations) even more so.

Lester is a dangerous man, Becker thinks.

"I'm going to bed," Connor says.

Becker manages not to sigh. He's not going to push when he's not welcome. "Good night."

"Er." Connor hovers in the doorway. "You coming or what?"

"Not yet, I should hope," Becker says, rising.


End file.
